| London Blackfriars | |
Station entrance on Queen Victoria Street prior to start of rebuilding work |
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Blackfriars
Location of Blackfriars in Central London |
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| Location | Blackfriars |
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| Local authority | City of London |
| Managed by | First Capital Connect |
| Owner | Network Rail |
| Station code | BFR |
| Number of platforms | 2 |
| Fare zone | 1 |
| Interchange | Mansion House [1] Temple |
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| National Rail annual entry and exit | |
| 2007–08 | 12.440 million[2] |
| 2008–09 | 12.959 million[2] |
| 2009–10 | 12.089 million[2] |
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| Original company | London, Chatham and Dover Railway |
| 10 May 1886 | Opened |
| 20 March 2009 | Terminal platforms closed |
| 20 November 2010 | Station closed for major works |
| 16 January 2011 | station re-opened |
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| List of stations | Underground · National Rail |
| External links | Departures • Layout |
| Facilities • Buses | |
Blackfriars station, also known as London Blackfriars,[3] is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex in the City of London. Its platforms span the River Thames a short distance downstream from Blackfriars Bridge. The north bank entrance is on the south side of Queen Victoria Street close to the junction with New Bridge Street. A new entrance on the south bank opened on 5 December 2011.[4] The station is in Travelcard Zone 1. The Underground station remains closed while refurbishment and major engineering works continue. It is now scheduled to reopen on 26 February 2012.[5]
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The mainline railway station was opened as St Paul's by the London Chatham and Dover Railway (LC&DR) on 10 May 1886 when it opened the St Pauls Railway Bridge across the River Thames.
The St Paul's bridge was constructed to supplement the LC&DR's existing Blackfriars railway bridge, which had opened in 1864. This carried trains on the LC&DR's busy City Line from south London into the LC&DR stations at Ludgate Hill, Holborn Viaduct and, via the Snow Hill tunnel and a connection to the Metropolitan Railway near Farringdon, on to London King's Cross and St Pancras stations.
After the opening of St Paul's station, the earlier LC&DR Blackfriars Bridge station on the south side of the river was closed to passenger traffic on 1 October 1885 and became a goods-only station.
St Paul's station was renamed Blackfriars on 1 February 1937. Gradually, the structure of the original Blackfriars railway bridge deteriorated until it was unsound. The bridge deck was removed in 1985 and only the piers in the river and the orange bridge abutments remain.
The station was rebuilt along with the Underground station in the mid 1970s and was formally reopened on 30 November 1977. A part of the stonework elevation from the 1886 LC&DR station has been preserved at platform level in the mainline station indicating many destinations in the south-east of England and in Europe. St Paul's Bridge is now known as the Blackfriars Railway Bridge.
This station is currently served by through services on the Thameslink route operated by First Capital Connect and Southeastern. This includes trains from Bedford, St Albans City and Luton in the north; and Brighton, Sutton and Sevenoaks in the south.[6] Trains travelling south from the station run via London Bridge or Elephant & Castle and trains to the north next call at City Thameslink. Before March 2009 some services from the south terminated at three bay platforms, which have been removed in renovation works. Although a through station, for ticketing purposes it is considered a central London railway terminus for journeys from the south.[7]
| Preceding station | National Rail | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| City Thameslink Farringdon on Sundays |
First Capital Connect Thameslink Bedford-Brighton |
London Bridge or Elephant & Castle |
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| First Capital Connect Thameslink Sutton Loop |
Elephant & Castle | |||
| City Thameslink | First Capital Connect Northbound |
Elephant & Castle | ||
| Southeastern Southbound Bedford-Sevenoaks |
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| Disused railways | ||||
| Ludgate Hill | London, Chatham & Dover Railway City Branch |
Blackfriars Bridge | ||
| Holborn Viaduct | British Rail Southern Region City Line |
Elephant & Castle | ||
Platforms in 2005, closed since 2009. |
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| Location | Blackfriars |
|---|---|
| Local authority | City of London |
| Managed by | London Underground |
| Number of platforms | 2 |
| Fare zone | 1 |
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| London Underground annual entry and exit | |
| 2007 | 12.621 million[8] |
| 2008 | 13.140 million[8] |
| 2009 | 0 (closed) million[8] |
| 2010 | 0 (closed) million[8] |
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| 1870 | Opened (MDR) |
| 1871 | Extended east (MDR) |
| 1872 | Started "Outer Circle" (NLR) |
| 1872 | Started "Middle Circle" (H&CR/MDR) |
| 1900 | Ended "Middle Circle" |
| 1908 | Ended "Outer Circle" |
| 1949 | Started (Circle line) |
| 2009 | Closed for refurbishment |
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| List of stations | Underground · National Rail |
The London Underground station is on the Circle and District lines, between Temple and Mansion House. It pre-dates the mainline station by 16 years. It has been closed since 2 March 2009 for rebuilding work and is now scheduled to reopen on 26 February 2012.[5]
The station was opened on 30 May 1870 by the Metropolitan District Railway (MDR; now the District and Circle lines) as the railway's new eastern terminus when the line was extended from Westminster. The construction of the new section of the MDR was planned in conjunction with the building of the Victoria Embankment and was achieved by the cut and cover method of roofing over a shallow trench.
On 3 July 1871 the MDR was extended eastwards to a new terminus at Mansion House.
| Closed 2009–2012 | ||||
| Preceding station | London Underground | Following station | ||
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towards Edgware Road (via Victoria)
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Circle line |
towards Hammersmith (via Tower Hill)
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| District line |
towards Upminster
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The station is located on the north bank of the River Thames. The platforms for the Thameslink rail services extend out over the River Thames on to Blackfriars Railway Bridge. Blackfriars Bridge runs parallel to the rail bridge.
Because of its proximity to the river, interchange with London River Services commuter boats is possible from Blackfriars Millennium Pier. Services from this pier include boats to Putney, operated by Thames Executive Charters, and services between Embankment and Woolwich Arsenal, operated by Thames Clippers.
London Bus route 45, 63, 100, 388 and night route N63.
Blackfriars station is being rebuilt. The office building above has been demolished and will be replaced as part of the Thameslink programme. The new station will be the same height and will house a shared National Rail/LUL ticket hall and LUL ventilation shaft together with escalators and lifts between a mezzanine level for National Rail services and the sub-surface level for London Underground services.[9] The LUL station will also see major enhancements,[10] with a new roof of glazed north lights and partial-height glazed side panels to be installed along the entire length of the bridge. A station entrance will also be created at Bankside, where a second ticket hall will be provided.[11] The mainline station will remain open during the remainder of this work, but the Underground station is closed until 26 February 2012.[5]
The through platforms will be extended along Blackfriars Railway Bridge over the River Thames to accommodate twelve-car trains (in place of eight today). Platform layout will be altered by building new platforms on the west side avoiding the need for trains between City Thameslink and London Bridge to cross the lines that lead to the terminus platforms.[12]
The works will exploit the disused piers which lie west of the existing railway bridge and which once supported the former West Blackfriars and St Paul's Railway Bridge. The easternmost line of disused piers will be strengthened, tied into the existing bridge and clad in stone.[13] The number of bay platforms will be reduced from three to two in the process, but some terminating services will become through services, and the increased length will allow longer trains to terminate at Blackfriars.[12] The existing subway entrance to Blackfriars station will be permanently closed as a result of the Thameslink Programme.[9]
The project is being designed by Jacobs and Tony Gee and Partners and built by Balfour Beatty.
By January 2011 the eastern half of the station's new roof had been erected, and First Capital Connect services began using the newly constructed platforms on the east side of the bridge, where the bay platforms used to be. Work is now proceeding on the western side of the station to remove the original Thameslink platforms and widen the bridge to provide space for the new terminus platforms. By the end of 2011, all four platforms are expected to have reached Bankside, where the station's new entrance and ticket hall opened on 5 December 2011.[4]
Immediately across the river on the same line was Blackfriars Bridge railway station, which accepted passengers from 1864 to 1885 and goods up to 1964. The station has been demolished but the entrance driveway remains. Further down Blackfriars Road is the entrance to an earlier Blackfriars station which operated from 1864 to 1868 as part of the competing South Eastern Railway. The bricked-up entrance and preserved engraved station name can be seen under the railway bridge carrying the railway between London Bridge and Waterloo East over Blackfriars Road. At track level the space occupied by the platforms can be seen.
The Waterloo & City Line, between Waterloo and Bank, runs almost directly under Blackfriars station and there have been suggestions to construct an interchange station for the line at Blackfriars. The Department for Transport considers this to have "no significant transport benefit".[14]
The Cambridge Buskers started here.
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